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Jitterbug! encourages choreographers to bust some moves

7/26/2016

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Although Jitterbug! is set in 1931, the playwright encourages choreographers to "reach into the future" for moves that will blow the minds of everyone at the Savoy Ballroom where the climatic dance contest unfolds. With the crowd encroaching, driven into a frenzy by the unbelievable dancing by the final two couples, protagonists Billy Rhythm and Tharbis Jefferson are slashed by knives and razor blades by his old street gang the Jolly Fellows who want the other couple to win, the legendary George "Shorty" Snowden and Big Bea. Their clothes ripped to shreds and stained with blood, Billy and Tharbis reach deep into themselves for dance moves no one had ever seen before. Beginning with "show dancing," they breakaway and dance side-by-side in choreographed tap dancing across the floor like Fred and Ginger before morphing with the music from the Gershwin's swinging Chick Webb drum-driven Liza to Ellington's symphonic dreamlike masterpiece Harlem. It's in the Harlem sequence where choreographers are encouraged to explore "dances yet to come." 

Although the Sprint commercial dance number "How It Feels" starring Erica Soto above may not set the right tone for the finale, if you wipe away the smiles,  we can see how its "in your face" bravado towards those who want to kill you works well on the Savoy floor for our heroic dancers. 

You can listen to the mash-up of the final music below using Liza (1929) and Harlem (1963) to create the transition from ugly reality to beautiful possibility.
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Ripley's "Believe it or Not!" and Jitterbug!

7/19/2016

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Jitterbug! has a scene set around a table in a Harlem tenement apartment circa 1931 where its characters get into a heated discussion over dinner about the Star Spangled Banner. Ripley, an internationally renowned American cartoonist with the hottest strip in the world-- at that time nearly 80-million people were reading it daily-- had recently ran a cartoon claiming the tune was NOT the official anthem of the country because there was no official anthem. Apparently Congress had turned it down 6-times as the official anthem and never got around to adopting one. Because of that, over 5-million Americans wrote letters to their congressmen demanding it (or another one) be adopted ASAP. Irving Berlin's God Bless America (written in 1918) is brought up as a suitable solution over the table because if nothing else it was at least singable. It's shot down by Candy, the dancical's angry common man, arguing that America would never allow a song written by a Jew to be considered for its anthem. That leads to an intense discussion on race and whether or not the black man sits above or below the Jew on America's racial totem pole.

Below is the second in a long line of Ripley's Believe it of Not! newsreels. Released in 1930, the clunky short has Ripley (in spats!) standing trial for all of the lies he's spreading. At 3:14 the "prosecutor" brings up the Star Spangled Banner. Ripley defends himself admirably explaining that the tune is from an old English drinking song and proceeds to prove it by having the foresight to bring along an all-male quartet to sing the original lyrics. Although this courtroom "stunt" has nothing to do with the charge brought against Ripley (except for maybe implying that there is no way under Heaven that Congress would ever give its blessing-- especially during Prohibition-- to a tune that encourages people to drink robustly), it does make you want to pick up a brewski and cheer the country on. 

On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill that formally recognized the Star Spangled Banner as the national anthem. Antisemitism might have triumphed as Candy predicted and God might have lost out in the end, but Congress did show prescience by adopting a song that goes well with one hand over the heart and the other clutching a cold Budweiser. 
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And now for something completely different: Brothers Moving does Cab Calloway's "Minnie"

7/14/2016

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This is something to behold-- just like it was when Cab did it 85-years ago. No top hat and tails, but still channeling Cab's untamed Id.

Here's a clip of Cab in his 20's exciting the world at the Cotton Club. Fast forward to 3:25 to see his performance.
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Jitterbug! songwriter Memphis Minnie in National Blues Museum

7/11/2016

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Memphis Minnie, the only woman songwriter on the Jitterbug! songwriting team, has been recognized by the National Blues Museum as part of its inaugural opening for her contributions to the blues.  This is a well-deserved and appropriate honor considering everything she overcame to follow her calling in a world dominated by men and a culture where women had few rights. You can learn more about her on the Jitterbug! Songwriters Team & Creative Directors page on the Jitterbug! website. Just scroll down on that page to her June 3rd birthday. 

You can watch Emmy-nominated choreographer Jeffrey Page's dance number for the Jitterbug! "slow drag" scene with Khalil Kane and Afi McClendon to her song Jitis Blues below.  
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    DC Copeland

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